The invention relates to an electricity generation system and more specifically to one that is powered by natural forces.
The present two major forms of electricity generation utilize water power that turns electricity producing turbines and fossil fuels that power electric power plants. Currently, fewer dams are being built for the purpose of generating hydroelectric power. The fossil fuel electric power plants continue to consume a large amount of the worlds non-replenishable resources of oil and coal. Attempts have been made to use solar energy and wind power to produce electricity from their unlimited source of natural power. Most of these systems are costly when compared to the cost of electricity produced by fossil fuels. There exists other natural forces which have not been utilized for generating electricity that need to be investigated. One of these is the force of the wind that causes a tree to bend repeatedly as the wind periodically blows. Another large untapped natural source of power are the waves of a large body of water.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel electricity generation system that can be powered by the force of the wind blowing against a tree and causing it to bend repeatedly through a range of useful degrees.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel electricity generation system that can be powered by the force of waves flowing toward the shore.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel electricity generation system that will be effective to protect a tree from excessive windthrow or toppling in high winds.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel electricity generation system that can be used to generate tremendous amounts of clean electrical power at a moderate cost.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel electricity generation system that utilizes spring motors that are rewound by using the force of the wind or waves of a natural body of water.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel electricity generation system that is economical to manufacture and market.
The natural forces powered electricity generation system utilizes an electricity generation module having an elongated ratcheting arm extending laterally therefrom. A cable tether member has its remote end attached to the main trunk of a tree at a point approximately ⅔ of the tree""s height. The other end of the cable tether member is attached adjacent the front free end of the ratcheting arm. As the wind repeatedly blows against the tree causing it to bend rearwardly, the ratcheting arm produces a counter clockwise rotation (in the particular orientation illustrated in the drawings) of the spring-motor primary winding axle. This action is produced by a winding-drive spur gear that is rigidly mounted on the spring-motor primary winding axle. A winding-drive gear ratchet pawl rotates the winding-drive spur gear counter clockwise a predetermined amount each time the wind blows hard enough to bend the tree rearwardly a predetermined amount. When the wind subsides, a winding-drive gear stop ratchet pawl prevents the winding-drive spur gear from rotating rearwardly. A pair of tension springs then return the ratchet arm to its original static position. The example of the winding-drive spur gear described in the Description of the Preferred Embodiment has 160 gear teeth grooves that the winding-drive gear ratchet pawl can interlock with as it is ratcheted in response to the rearward and return travel of the ratcheting arm caused by the wind intermittently bending the tree trunk.
The front end of the spring-motor primary winding axle is connected to a one-way sprague coupling that in turn is connected to the front end of the spring-motor secondary winding axle. The purpose of the one-way sprague coupling is to allow the spring-motor secondary winding axle to spin freely once the spring motors have released their energy. The spring-motor primary winding axle does not spin during the electricity generation cycle of the spring motor drum assembly because of the one-way sprague coupling. A spring drum assembly is journaled on the spring-motor secondary winding axle. A plurality of spring motor assemblies are positioned within the spring motor drum assembly and each has a spring motor having a spring metal band whose inner end is captured by structure attached to the outer periphery of the spring-motor secondary winding axle. In the Description of the Preferred Embodiment, the ratcheting action of the ratcheting arm will rotate the winding-dive spur gear 360 degrees causing the spring-motor primary winding axle and the spring-motor secondary winding axle to rotate counter clockwise twenty times and wind the respective spring motors to approximately 95% of their power range. While the spring motors are being wound, the spring motor drum assembly is prevented from rotating because the centrifical activated swivel arm next to its front end is captured against a pair of shoulders on the stationary retention plate. A timing gear assembly counts the number of rotations of the spring-motor primary winding axle. It has been designed to revolve its timing gear cam 360 degrees when the spring-motor primary winding axle is rotated twenty times. When the timing gear cam has completed its 360 degree travel, it will kick the centrifical activated swivel arm upwardly, releasing the spring motor drum assembly to rotate in a counter clockwise direction and dissipate its stored energy.
A generator drive pulley is mounted on the rear end of the spring drum assembly and it aligns with a pulley mounted on the power generation driveshaft of a generator mounted on the frame assembly of the electricity generation module. The stored energy in the spring motors will drive a belt passing around the respective pulleys causing the generator to produce intermittent bursts of clean A/C power that can either be utilized or fed into an existing power grid. The flywheels in the spring motor drum assembly will cause it to continue to rotate for a period after the power in the spring motors has dissipated. During this rotation, the centrifical activated swivel arm will remain radially extended until the spring motor drum assembly comes to a stop. At that time it will automatically drop downwardly and be captured by the shoulders on the stationary retention plate and the cycle begins again.
The electricity generation module can also be utilized to produce electricity using the force of waves of water as they travel toward the shore. In this embodiment, a cable tether member would have its one end connected to a buoy floating on the surface of the water. Its other end would be connected to the front portion of the ratcheting arm. The same type of ratcheting action would take place to wind the spring motors in the spring-motor drum assembly until the predetermined number of rotations have been made. At this point it will function in the same manner as that previously described above.